Wildlife dept to take to task guard who killed pangolin

KARACHI: Hours after a security guard shot a pangolin five times in Zamzama on Sunday, the animal succumbed to its injuries while being treated at a private veterinary clinic.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing away of the rescued pangolin in Karachi. He could not make it through the night [on Sunday] due to severe internal injuries from the five bullets so ruthlessly pumped into its body,” announced animal welfare group Paws in a statement on Monday.

“The guard claimed the pangolin was attacking him, so he fired three bullets into its abdomen, and two into its front legs,” Paws stated on its Facebook page. The male Indian Pangolin weighed 22kg with a length of 3.5 to four feet.

Paws, a non-profit organisation that coordinates help for animals in need through Facebook and Twitter by putting people in touch with each other, requested veterinarian Dr Ali Ayaz to help the animal after viewing a Facebook post by Nuvera Nasir Sheikh appealing for people to rescue the pangolin which was in a critical condition.

“We saw the post in the early hours on [Monday] morning and requested Dr Ali Ayaz to help. He arrived in Zamzama on his motorcycle, along with his assistant,” the post said.

Sindh wildlife conservator Saeed Akhter Balouch said the animal was being treated by the vet in Gulistan-e-Jauhar. The Sindh wildlife department has decided to preserve the dead pangolin. Authorities have also said they are initiating proceedings against the security guard who shot the animal.

Balouch told The Express Tribune that investigations have been initiated against the guard who brutally shot the pangolin. “The guard has not been arrested but we have started investigation,” Balouch said, adding that “We are also investigating where the animal came from.”

According to him, the pangolin would be preserved in the turtle laboratory lab at Hawke’s Bay. Pangolins are nocturnal mammals native to South Asia. They are the most trafficked animal in the world and all eight species are threatened with extinction.